


Exo Doesn't Have an "M"

by untokki



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Canon, Other, a little angsty, basically if exo was only a chinese group
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 08:39:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11505723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/untokki/pseuds/untokki
Summary: Exo never existed. At least, it never existed as a twelve turned nine member Korean boy group.That's a rather scary thing for Yixing to wake up to.





	Exo Doesn't Have an "M"

It wasn't his room. At least, it wasn't his room anymore. He couldn't remember staying in these dorms since 2013, so when he woke up in the dead of night and finally got his eyes to adjust in the darkness, he felt fear wash over him. Sitting up, he found the bed adjacent to him definitely wasn't occupied by Junmyeon, who he was sharing a dorm with the last time he got back to South Korea.  
Maybe he was dreaming. That thought hit him suddenly, and even as he tried to calm his breathing, he felt his heartbeat rush against his ribs. He shuffled with the blankets around him, deciding it was too hot to have his bare legs covered. His discomfort caught the attention of the other person, the creaking of his bed catching Yixing off guard. When he glanced over to the other bed, the person he saw looking back at him sent him into a shock. "You okay?"  
Yixing's throat was like a desert when he heard that deep voice, a little rusty from sleep. All he could do as a response was nod his head and fall back against the pillows, facing away from the other.  
He hadn't shared a room with Yifan in probably four years.

Yixing woke up in the morning with a groan. He had grown accustomed to waking up in hotel rooms, so finding that he was still in that dorm room he swore he was dreaming off made him scared. He wasn't dreaming. He was in Exo-M's old dorm in Beijing, sleeping only a few feet apart from Wu Yifan. That Wu Yifan, though, had already disappeared from the room, and the pounding sound of water made Yixing assume someone was taking a shower. He dragged himself off the mattress, glancing out the window. It was definitely Beijing. It was definitely not the pool of the hotel he could see from his current hotel room. It definitely wasn't where he was supposed to be. The banging on the bedroom door almost made him fall back, a startled "what" coming from his mouth as he used the nightstand to catch his balance. "You need to hurry and get dressed or we're going to be late."  
That was Luhan's voice.

Yixing found his dresser was full of clothes he would have no interest in back then, rather more expensive outfits he had the luxury of buying. When he caught glimpse of himself in the small mirror atop the dresser, he had to do a double take.  
He had just gotten a haircut, a fresh shave to the sides and a very light change in color, rendering his black hair a mix of gray and brown. He had never had a hairstyle similar to it before, especially in the days when the subunit was big, so seeing that mop of hair on his head confused him. He expected his natural curls dyed a chocolate brown, or just a bowl of black, or even that ugly blond that was forced on him. Nothing like this.  
When Yixing slipped out of the bedroom, he would hope to go unseen by anyone. It was to no avail, of course, as a tall man he was very familiar with stood in the hall, making Yixing's hopeful escape impossible. Yifan's hair was also nothing he had before, and the more Yixing stared at the back of his head, Yixing realized he had seen him clad with the same white highlights, lost in brown locks, only days before in a preview of a show, which he stumbled across on Weibo. Yixing let out a breath and pushed past the taller man, entering the living room. "Are you ready now? You're typically the first person up," Yifan said, and Yixing couldn't help but notice his cellphone sitting on the coffee table. He clicked it awake to be sure it was his own, and froze for a moment. It was his, the lock screen being a familiar one that he had recently set, but the date confirmed all of his worries.  
It was 2017, July of 2017.  
Yifan cleared his throat, and Yixing felt like crying. Instead he pocketed the phone and looked at the elder. "Sorry. What was our schedule today?"  
Yifan pushed away from the wall, heading towards the door, an eyebrow raised. "We're flying out to Changsha? For Happy Camp? You were really excited about it yesterday."  
Yixing slowly nodded as he followed the other out the door, keeping a distance. Then everything hit him at once, and the floodgates finally broke as tears rolled down his cheeks. He held back a sob as his hands traveled up to rub his eyes, stopping in his tracks as he made an attempt to calm himself down. Apparently, Yifan noticed this, as he was immediately by Yixing's side, softly asking, "Yixing? Why are you crying?"  
How was Yixing supposed to answer that, especially when the past three years supposedly didn't happen?

The drive to the airport was horribly awkward, especially when Yixing was forced to sit next to Yifan. He would have preferred to be with Jongdae or Minseok, in hopes they would understand what was going on, but they were both in the back making conversation with Luhan. At the very least, he was impressed with their improvement with Chinese. After all, they had been practicing for three years more than they would have.  
It was like some weird alternate reality. He swore the last time he saw Tao, he had that almost caramel hair color, matching well with his golden skin. As for Luhan, the preview of his newest music video showed off his pink hair. Minseok and Jongdae were currently in the midst of a comeback, with black and blond hair, respectively. It felt too surreal to him.  
After his crying fit, Yifan kept a hand on Yixing's shoulder, since he didn't have the voice to tell the elder. He didn't end their contact even in the van, as Yifan's hand was stable on Yixing's knee. "Are you okay, Yixing?" he asked, barely audible over the chatter behind them.  
Yixing pulled his eyes away from the window and glanced at the other, nodding his head slightly. What, was he supposed to spill everything?  
_Sorry, I thought you left my life in 2014. Then Luhan and Tao left it too. Then Exo-M and Exo-K didn't really exist, and all we had was nine members. I have no idea why it's 2017. I'm supposed to be doing my solo activities as my group comebacks with a new album. I'm a little overwhelmed right now._  
That wasn't something he could just say out of the blue.

-

"What happened? You were amazing with this choreo, Yixing!" Luhan groaned as he watched the younger man, who had never seen this choreography in his life. He didn't know a single move. What he did know, however, was that this was Exo's song. This was Kokobop. Chanyeol had sent him a preview of it awhile ago, and he recognized the summer sound immediately. He just didn't understand how Exo-M was doing this, let alone why Exo-M was doing this.  
"I just... I don't know it," Yixing muttered. Whatever reputation they had, Yixing was going to ruin it. "I'm sorry."  
Luhan let out an annoyed groan, and Yixing help but notice the faces the other members wore. He was really screwing them over.  
"You just came out with a solo album," Yifan said suddenly, his attention on Luhan. "Ask if you can perform something from that."  
"We're supposed to be promoting The War," Luhan replied, "They're not going to change around the show because Yixing suddenly doesn't know the song."  
Yifan glanced over at Yixing, and the younger immediately wanted to sink away. He hadn't felt those eyes on him in so long.

"Hello everyone, I'm Exo's leader, Kris," Yifan introduced himself and Yixing felt as if he hadn't heard him properly. Yifan was always supposed to call himself Exo-M's leader, it was Suho that was Exo's leader. Yixing didn't even pay attention to the hosts talking to Yifan, he was too focused on that strange introduction.  
"Our prince of Changsha is back, he was on the show a few weeks ago, actually."  
Yixing's little bubble popped and he bowed, not thinking as he introduced himself, "I'm Exo's Lay."

-

"Yixing, are you okay?"  
Yixing almost jumped at the sudden voice in his ear, turning his head slightly to see Yifan a little closer than he would have liked. He moved away quickly, heading to the couch. Of course he had to share a hotel room with Yifan. "I'm okay," he said, curling his legs underneath him.  
"Are you sure? You didn't know the song, and when you started crying when we were at the dorm... I'm worried, Yixing," Yifan stated, sitting next to the other. "Have you been sleeping okay?"  
Yixing tensed a bit, and it was obvious that Yifan caught his discomfort. "Probably not," Yixing replied softly. Yifan was about to say something else, but Yixing interrupted him, asking in a quiet voice, as if he was afraid of scaring the elder away, "What happened in May of 2014?"  
Yifan looked taken aback, his mouth slightly opened at the strange question, "We released Overdose, I think?"  
That month had a lot more than just that album. Yixing shifted on the couch, letting his feet hit the floor. "That's it?"  
"Why are you asking stuff like this?"  
He shrugged his shoulders. This was all so, so wrong. "What album did we release after that?"  
"Exodus."  
He turned to look at Yifan then, seeing his strong eyebrows pulled together, a mix of worry and confusion. "With you? And Luhan?"  
"Of course? Why wouldn't we be in an album?"  
"Was Tao in Sing For You?"  
"We all were," his eyebrows seemed like they would combine with how furrowed they were, "You're kinda freaking me out, Yixing."  
"Exo has nine members," he said, his lips releasing the words before he could even think about it. He surprised himself, sinking into the couch, almost trying to get away from Yifan.  
"What the fuck are you talking about?"  
Yixing didn't care that tears were flowing free from his eyes. He was terrified. "Exo has nine members," he repeated, pulling his knees up to his chest, "There were twelve, but then you three left."  
Yifan stayed silent.  
Yixing sniffled and rubbed the stray tears away. "You sued the company, and then Luhan did. And then Tao."  
"What company?" Yifan asked slowly.  
"SM Entertainment."  
The name seemed to confuse Yifan, "Well, whatever little story you're making up has some holes. First you forget our song, and now you're forgetting the name of our company? You're really not okay."  
"SM is our company," Yixing muttered, his voice still wavering. "Or, my company. You're under your own company. Kris Wu Studio, I guess," he shrugged his shoulders slightly.  
"Did you make this all up, or something Yixing?"  
"No," the tears were still falling, but his sobs had ceased. "This is real life," he threw his arms up, "All of this is some weird reality. This isn't supposed to be real."  
Yifan only sighed, he still looked worry. Yixing was beginning to think that face was going to stay on Yifan.  
"Where's Junmyeon? And the rest of them? Are they in Korea?"  
"Junmyeon?"  
Yixing let out a groan and buried his face in his arms. He felt Yifan's hand squeeze his shoulder before disappearing, "I'm gonna get you water. Take a nap, or something." Then, there was the click of the door and Yifan was gone.

It took a moment for Yixing to compose himself. He rubbed away the dried tears and open his phone, going into the contacts. He recognized all of the names, Huang Lei, Show Luo, Wang Xun... One thing, though, caught him off guard. Kim Minseok and Kim Jongdae were the only Korean names in his contacts. No Kim Junmyeon, no Oh Sehun, none of his other band members. No managers, no friends within the company.  
He checked his Instagram after that. He was following Yifan, which he expected, but not Chanyeol, Baekhyun or Sehun.  
Typing their names into the search bar, he felt his heart drop.  
For one, the Byun Baekhyun he found wasn't verified. But by the numerous selfies, he knew it was definitely his friend.  
Oh Sehun was verified. His profile said he was a model working out of Seoul.  
Park Chanyeol wasn't verified, but his bio introduced him as a music producer.  
He pressed "follow" on all three accounts without thinking.  
His own profile was interesting, to say the least. He still had that same display of China, but he didn't expect the 6 million followers to be replaced with 9 million. He also didn't expect his most recent post to be himself, clearly a teaser image for a new album.  
He wasn't supposed to have teaser images for The War; he wasn't even supposed to be in that album.  
But, he guessed it wasn't really like that, in this different reality he woke up in.  
This different reality, where all Exo was, was a six member Chinese boy group.

As Yixing finally realized, through a few dozen Wikipedia entries, everything was the same. Everything, excluding the fact that Exo wasn't a Korean boy group, it was all the same.  
Lose Control was one of the highest grossing albums.  
Yifan made a Hollywood debut in a movie with Vin Diesel.  
Tao was currently the talk of the modeling world.  
Luhan was going higher and higher as a solo artist.  
It was all the same.  
At least, everything was the same for what Yixing still wanted to call Exo-M.  
His Korean members were hard to get information on.  
Junmyeon, still going by the stage name Suho, had made his debut with Shinee, back in 2008. That was a possibility, even for Yixing's real life, so it didn't surprise him too much.  
Chanyeol was a producer working with SM, along with other companies.  
Sehun was a full fledged model, his face only more magazines than Yixing could count.  
Kyungsoo was acting, and he had a lot more than My Annoying Brother under his belt.  
For some reason, he couldn't find anything about Baekhyun or Jongin, and that upset him.  
It upset him even more when Yifan came back to the hotel room.  
"I told you to sleep," Yifan said, a few water bottles in his arms. He set them on the table before Yixing.  
The younger put his phone down and glanced up at him, sighing softly. "I'm sorry."  
Yifan sat next to him, and the closeness of it made Yixing feel... strange? He had always been really close to Yifan back then, so he assumed their connection grew in the last three years. "You don't need to apologize. I'm just concerned. It's like you have amnesia, or something."  
Silently, Yixing leaned closer and let his head fall on Yifan's shoulder. He missed contact like this.  
"Yixing."  
"I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on, Yifan. This... This isn't right."  
"You said we left," Yifan said softly. "What was your reaction to that?"  
"I cried. A lot. Most of us cried."  
"And what did I do after that?"  
"You got into acting. And then you started making music again."  
"Was my first movie Somewhere Only We Know?"  
Yixing nodded.  
"Did I release an album?"  
"Not yet. I think all your fans are really waiting for it, though."  
Yixing could feel Yifan nod. Then the elder spoke, "How about your album?"  
"Lose Control was huge. It still is."  
"Well, I'm glad."

-

It felt very strange to fly back to a place he was supposed to call home, rather than another hotel. Seeing Minseok and Luhan situating themselves on the couch, game controllers in their hands, and Tao and Jongdae watching them play, also felt strange. It was foreign, but familiar, and a little unsettling. Yifan had disappeared to his room, leaving Yixing with the others in the living room. Jongdae poked Yixing's arm to get his attention, and asked in a hushed voice, "Are you okay?"  
Yixing nodded, smiling at the younger man. He spoke out of habit, not realizing the words leaving his mouth were Korean. It was just so habitual to speak to Jongdae in Korean. "Yeah, I'm okay."  
Jongdae's eyes widened, and he laughed a bit. "Since when do you speak Korean?"  
He shrugged. Better to just let everyone know he truth. "Something like five years."  
"Wait, what? What?"  
Right. In this reality, he had probably never been to Korea. He had no reason to learn the language. He just smiled at the younger. "I've been learning. I'm pretty good, right?"  
Jongdae only nodded, his mouth open.

-

Yifan wanted to talk, and whenever that happened in the past, it never turned out for the best. Yixing could remember, one day in May, Yifan pulling Luhan aside with the same phrase, "We need to talk."  
Then they both left his life.  
So, Yifan saying that phrase to Yixing as they passed each other in the hall, was not something Yixing wanted to hear. But, he was already worrying the man to death, it seemed, so Yixing had to comply. That's how he ended up in their share room, crying his eyes out again, with a more than concerned Yifan beside him. "I want to go home," Yixing hiccupped, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes. Yifan's hand glided over his back in an attempt to sooth the younger, but it was to no avail.  
"Should we have you talk to someone?" Yifan asked.  
Yixing whimpered out a reply, "Anyone I tell this to will think I'm crazy. You're no exception."  
That made Yifan's hand retract. "I don't think you're crazy. I just think... Well, yeah. Now that I actually think about it, this doesn't seem like something you would just make up out of the blue."  
Yixing nodded his head slightly. Like he would make up the past three years of his life.  
"But, this other reality doesn't seem, well, good. You said three of us left, and that you're not even promoting with what's left of the group. Maybe, this is for the better?"  
Yixing opened his eyes at that. He glanced up at the other, biting his lip. Was it better? This Exo, what he would want to call Exo-M, was way more successful than his old Exo-M was. Another thing, was he didn't have a severed relationship with three people he thought of as brothers.  
Maybe, Exo like this, really was for the better.

**Author's Note:**

> this came to my mind as a fanxing au, but i felt it would work better as completely canon. i always throw in my fanxing undertones, though.  
> hope you liked it! sorry if it seemed really short ;;


End file.
